As I’m sure many of you, like what I did last Sunday, watched the live action of the English League Cup final. It was a great match and in victory and in defeat, I think both Sunderland and Manchester City played well with Sunderland more than matching their big-name opponents for large parts of the game, making it an enjoyable match for all.
With this trophy in the bag City can continue to charge for the Premier League title, and this win will give them a boost when they try to reverse their first leg defeat to Barcelona in the Uefa Champions League. City rivals Manchester United must also reverse a defeat as they lost their first leg match to Greek side Olympiakos last week.
Speaking of United, one of the club’s former top players paid a visit to Hong Kong this week to pass on his professional guidance to local students. Phil Neville is the former Red Devil player I am talking about. Most football fans will know Phil as he and his brother Gary were both key members of the so-called “Fergies’ fledglings”, being two of the members brought through the youth ranks into the first team by legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson. Phil later joined Everton and spent the last 8 years of his career there.
Having returned to United at the start of the current season, Phil now works as the first team coach, assisting manager David Moyes. We were very pleased that he could find the time to come and visit Hong Kong in the middle of the season. Yesterday, Phil spoke to students at Nam Wah Catholic Secondary School, one of the schools participating in the Jockey Club School Football Development Scheme, our collaboration with Manchester United. Naturally, thestudents were thrilled to meet a former Premier league player of such high stature, including our jockey Alex Lai, who is himself an alumnus of the school and a keen football player, joined us for the visit yesterday.
It was even more fortunate for them not just to meet Phil but also to watch him show his skills, as he and I together formed a Manchester United team. We played an exhibition match against the school team for a few minutes, which was something the students really enjoyed.
Phil was very dedicated in his play and I’m sure he enjoyed it as much as the youngsters. Meanwhile, I also want to again express my thanks to the school as they presented me with one of their school football team jerseys, with my Chinese name imprinted on it.
Phil’s participation at the event followed Peter Schmeichel’s visit to another local school back in December, as well as Sir Bobby Charlton talking to our Elite Youth Camp trainees last summer. We look forward to seeing more United legends coming to Hong Kong in the future to show their support of this programme, as well as to give some instruction and advice to our young footballers.
Getting back to racing, last night my horse Now We Can featured in a conditions race at Chantilly, with Cirrus Des Aigles among his six opponents. It was a tight finish as three horses engaged a close battle as approaching the winning post, and my horse hit to the front at the wire to notch a victory. I’m happy to see my horse getting such a good start in the new season and hopefully he will progress well after the race and we will see about sending him to the UAE for the Dubai Gold Cup on Dubai World Cup night.
In Hong Kong, we announced today the list of selected runners for the BMW Hong Kong Derby on Sunday week, 16 March. Many are of the view that the general quality of our leading four-year-olds is very good this season, and I believe we are in for the thrilling Derby this year. Make sure you check our website and see if your favourite horses are among the names that will feature in this historic race for their “Once in a lifetime” chance for Derby glory.
Meanwhile, tonight’s Happy Valley race meeting sees the final chance for horses to collect points in the 1O1O Million Challenge. A total of four horses, namely Bullish Boy, Rainbow Fighter, Pleasure Gains and Golden Harvest, still have a chance to obtain the winner’s bonus of HK$650,000. All of them will feature, but not all in the same race, Bullish Boy is leading at the moment, but you can expect one or two twists and turns as the meeting goes on.
The Achievement Handicap is the first race which will be decisive to determine the winner of the 1O1O Million Challenge this season. It is race 4 in today’s card as a Class 1 over 1650m. Bullish Boy as a feather weight from a low draw should take the lead, with Pleasure Gains and Noble Deluxe well placed behind him. Victory Master and Deep Thinker are likely to be ridden close to the pace. Fun Rider and especially Rainbow Chic will have to come from further back. But with only nine horses in the race it should make their tasks a bit easier. The slow tempo will help Bullish Boy and Pleasure Gains to fight it out for the win in the race, as well as the potential win for the overall challenge. Going back to 1650m it should be an ideal distance for both runners, but I have a slight preference for Pleasure Gains over Bullish Boy. I would not be surprised to see Fun Rider to run a place because he is improving in his fitness and work.
In the Betterment Handicap in Race 8, it features Rainbow Fighter who is currently second in the leaderboard in the Million Challenge, as well as My Name Is Bond, Charity Joy and last but not least St Yazin who all still have a chance to get a share of the bonus. The pace in this Class 3 with an extended rating band of 85 to 60 is expected to be good, with Charity Joy leading and Sichuan Vigour in the box seat. All Win Boy, Cheetah Boy and Atacx will compete for good spots behind the pace, with Multivictory, My Name Is Bond and St Yazin coming from back in the field, which should not be a disadvantage due to the good pace. My favourite is Sichuan Vigour with Multivictory, My Name Is Bond, All Win Boy and Rainbow Fighter as place chances.
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